I recently took our 2004 Ford Freestar mini van in for a tire rotation. It’s front wheel drive. The gentleman told me that the front tires were too worn and needed to be replaced. They are just at the tread wear mark. He said that the rear tires are fine and have good tread. He didn’t want to rotate them though as he said that this may cause issues with traction and over steer in bad weather by having the good tires up front and the worn tires in the rear. Is this true or can I safly use the rear, good tires on the front for a while?
Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
Brian Gretz
Castle Rock, Colorado
You got good advice. The tires with the most tread should always be on the rear. If your front tires are worn to the indicators, it’s time for new tires.
You got good advice, but I would replace the two worn tires with new ones, given that winter will quickly arrive. At that point the two old tires get rotated to the front and you have two new on the rear.
If you don’t you certainly stand a higher chance of slippin’ and slidin’ this winter in Castle Rock.
Thank you guys. I appreciate the input.
I wanted to mention that these tires only have about 18,000 miles. Yes they were not rotated but do you think that is unusual wear? They are Pirelli P3000’s.
If they were not rotated in 18,000 miles, that would seem to indicate less than stellar attention to car maintenance. And, yes, that would definitely increase wear on those treads, particularly wear that is uneven across the width of the tread.
If the front tires were evenly worn across the tread or were excessively worn on the outer edges, then there is the possibility that they were consistently underinflated.
The combination of failure to rotate tires, coupled with incorrect inflation pressures, can put an early end to tire treads.